Final call for Sacramento world meet: Entry deadline is Sunday
USATF has been emailing reminders that the registration deadline for the World Masters Athletics Championships in Sacramento is this coming Sunday, April 24. Yup, for a meet in July. I wrote to meet rep Bob Burns, and he provided some fun facts to know and tell. As of Monday morning, 2,614 athletes have entered. That could grow big time. But it’s a little shocking how short of 5,000 the figure is. Bob says the top countries by entrants are USA (830), India (187), Germany (171), Australia (143), Mexico (119) and Canada (102). “Hotel Rooms are still available within the 24 Contracted LOC hotels,” Bob writes. “These hotels are in close proximity to the various venues for the Championships and include a free transportation pass along the Regional Transit system during the entire event. Visit wma2011.com and click on the Accomodations/Transportation tab to start making your reservation. Dorm rooms are still available at the main stadium at CSUS. Visit wma2011.com/en/dorms.htm to make your reservation.”
USATF email also notes: “By entering online, you can save $20 compared to the paper/mail-in entry fee. If submitting the paper/mail-in entry it was must be received at the USATF National Office before April 24th.”
Finally (since I still have to enter myself and haven’t checked the site much) comes word that folks can volunteer for relays online as well.
A friend writes: “The WMA online registration allows for athletes to sign up for the relay pools NOW. The current USA list of athletes for the pool is very weak. Hopefully athletes know they can register for the pool now.”
But I suspect that Team USA Manager Phil Greenwald will pick teams near the end of the meet with the help of sign-up sheets, since he won’t trust online databases months before anyone even shows up.
15 Responses
Ken, post no. 8 on your story about Joy Upshaw and Debbie Deutsch says that the entry deadline is May 2, not April 24. I read that post to mean that entries received April 25 through May 2 will carry a $50 penalty.
Not that it matters a great deal, but this was a huge factor in my revising my prediction upward from 5400 to 5700 entrants. I figured that with people spending thousands of dollars on this meet, what’s another $50?
Thus, they would wait as long as possible to enter. Remember, they are being asked to enter in April a meet that will not be conducted until July.
Anybody else not get “verified” for a status. Mine says “updated”. I thought if my DOB was already satisfied with USATF, this would automatically show me as “verified” for Worlds. Do I need to call Indianapolis ?
Chuck – it seems to take some time for “verified” to turn up – wait a few more days before calling about it. I am hearing from some that they sign up, have their credit cards accepted – and do no see their names on the list of those registered. And some are fortunate enough to be entered twice – hopefully not charged twice – do they get to run each event twice?
Chuck – it took about 3 weeks after I registered for my status to switch from blank to “verified”, so probably need to wait a little longer.
Thanks, but I should have mentioned that I registered on-line on March 16. Over 4 weeks now.
If it takes them two and a half months just to process entries (with computer assistance), how well do you think they can conduct the meet? When you go to their lunch counter during the meet, do you have to make your order in May?
I think it depends where your qualifying time or mark was set. Mine were from the WMA in Riccione and last years USATF Nationals in Sacramento, and they had me listed as verified within 48 hours. Of course that doesn’t explain why the “No Mark” entries are not all confirmed immediately.
“There are NO REFUNDS once you have registered for the 2011 WMA Championships.” So naturally, people are waiting as long as they can. Injury etc. can happen any time…
Scott – VERIFIED does not refer to verification of seed times but rather to ones credentials (age, citizenship, affiliation registration, etc.) It is hoped that entrants would put down valid recent seed times but it is obvious that is not the case with some.
I like to send USATF a fax of my my age verification with every national/world entry.
‘Verified’ should include credentials AND seed times/marks, yeah, sure. I like the ‘updated’ feature. Nolan’s 1500 m entry was just updated from 3:30 to 4:30 and his 800 m seed time now reflects his cool new time. Still, I found the original entry of 3:30 for the 15 much more fun. Also, the 2,703 for a 200 m entry stand out, so do the 27.102, the 13:30 and the 27:50.00 for the 200 m (M 60). I’m eagerly waiting for a ‘verified’ on those as well.. oh no, some of them are already ‘verified’.
What is “updated” anyway ? I sure as heck did not update anything, not that I remember anyway. Does that pass ? Some one at USATF was checking into my status for me but have not heard back after 3 days.
Since there are no blogs or comments under the World’s website and this is the ultimate Masters Track website (Ken didn’t pay me to say that.), let me be the first to welcome our visitors and competitors from other countries to the USA!! I hope to meet all of you.
Woo hoo ! I’m “verified”. Couple e-mails bank and forth to Indy.
While I can’t afford to go, I was helping a friend make her plans and I was researching the public transit options. I have to say that I wish the World site was a lot clearer about this. From what I can tell, you can’t reach the xc venue easily. I know it’s only a less than a mile walk from the gold line, but that’s not really that close. If you take public transit, be sure to figure out what routes are best to take. Depending on where you stay, it could take you an hour to get to one of the alternate sites, or as little as 18 minutes. Rancho Cordova seems to be on the light rail line that includes City College and Granite Regional park, but the Arden Fair locations and Larkspur landing require more connections. I’m all for less vehicle use, but this could stress out an out of town competitor (or even worse, a foreign competitor). Good luck, all! I’m sad I can’t do the xc race.
Leave a Reply